Monday, 24 July 2017

I have known Montse since we met in the photography course of the Foundation training and employment of Toledo in the fall of 2016. It was all casual, since the very beginning.

My parents have a family business in Toledo, in particular in the street of “arroyo”, close to a Photo Studio, which makes all kinds of social works: weddings, graphic reports of family and other social events… Through a small window I see their photos when I walk to the bar terrace “Pararrayos”. I always focus on the photos that were taken outdoors, in gardens or on the streambed of the Rio Tajo.

“Pararrayos” bar is the meeting point with Luis and Yolanda. Nearly every Sunday morning, we meet to stablish our weekly excursion with the purpose to discover our surrounding nature.
During this excursion, I am in charge of the graphic reports, the result was not good enough that was the origin of my interest in the course. It upset me to contemplate a photo representing not what motivated me to do it.

-"Pedro, Hello… can you talk?"
-"Yes, Montse, what’s up this morning?
-"... well, the point is that we discussed the good quality of the content when we took the course of the Foundation in Toledo, but we would have liked to complete it with something more focused on our interests..."
-“Yeah, so true. They gave us some knowledge about settings, very interesting composition and camera settings, but I missed something regarded to a monograph on photography of nature."
- "That’s the fact. I have found an solution to our request in Caceres, in particular, a village located in the southern slope of the sierra de Gredos. They teach about monographs of photography in nature, up to a maximum of 4 people."
-"Feel me great. If you don't mind, Luis and Yolanda come with us and we share hobbies, while spending the weekend surrounded by nature."

Environment of “chozo de cabreros”

It’s ten in the morning and we are having a coffee on the terrace of the “Pararrayos” bar.
Montse, from Aranjuez, just come. The day is bright with good visibility. We drink quickly the coffee and head excitedly to a chozo in Gredos. The idea of these experiences in Extremadura that combines nature and photography have attracted us from the beginning. We slept in a traditional accommodation of the cabreros Gredos. We carry sleeping bags as we are meant to sleep in cots. Exciting. We are going to enjoy in a very straight way the contact with nature.Carlos is responsible of Conyegar and photographer, he is intended to give us a photography workshop in nature.
He emailed us the program and we will perform two convenient excursions on Friday and Saturday, having a meeting to assess the experience on Sunday morning; all of this surrounded by Oaks and mountain gorges with a flow of clean and transparent waters.

Path access to the mountain

- "good morning to all four. First of all, thank you for your interest and enthusiasm shown in these two days. We are going to see and comment on what we've done these two days".
Carlos has brought a laptop to the Chozo and in a USB memory he has organised folders with the work of Montse and mine. In another, there are photos of the group with Luis and Yolanda, who will recall from the memory of our stay.

He shows us a photo taken from a wetlands in the pico Almanzor with a zoom lens and reminds us: "telephoto is our ally to highlight reasons for interest in nature..." and states his explanations based on arguments about framing of images taken in these two days in the lands of the region of La Vera...

I am at home reviewing the notes of the book of field that Carlos gave us to write down questions during the photography workshop. It has been very intense and practical. Living with friends an unforgettable experience.

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Pedro, photographer and a lover of nature. Julio 2017